Sustainable Electric Power Scott Norr, PE EE 1001 September 23, 2014

Electric Power Delivery and Consumption Getting More Complex More Environmental Issues - SUSTAINABILITY Greater Population Density Larger Variety of Sources, Delivery Methods and Loads Aging Infrastructure Undergoing Life Extension New Technology Blended with Old – Grid is Already Pretty Smart

ELECTRIC DEMAND Source: Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2012 ( ) Demand growing 1% per year in U.S.

DO YOU FEEL LIKE AN ENERGY HOG? Would you want everyone in the world to use energy at a rate similar to yours?

World Energy Consumption 505 Quad In 2008 Source: Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2012 ( ) US – 5% of population using 20% of world resources

Electric Generation Changing to Meet Demand Large, Centralized Plants (Rarely, now) Small, Modular, Distributed Plants Also, Siting Renewable Generation where it makes Sense (and Profit)

Large Plants Environmental Issues Fossil Fuels Location/Siting Outlet Transmission

HydroElectric No Longer “Clean Energy” 3 Gorges Dam – China – 20,000 MegaWatts Hoover Dam – US – 2,000 MegaWatts Eoearth.org

Large Plants (Cont.) We’ll See New Ideas for Big Plants: – Coal is dirty – so … “Clean Coal”! –Wind and Solar are expensive and intermittent: Large-scale and Storage –Geothermal has limited application: Low-Temp –Biomass puts pressure on agriculture: Cellulose –Nuclear is nasty: Gen IV Nuclear

Clean Coal 2% Growth in all Coal Gen, 345 GW in 2012 (Natural Gas is too cheap!!) Coal Gasification (Combined Cycle) - Low Emmissions Potential for Carbon Sequestration

WIND 25% growth, 60 GW in 2012 Wind Generators currently very popular (Several Thousand MWs in Upper Midwest More and more Cost Effective (4 - 5 Cents/KWH) Not a Cure-All - never windy when you need it most Difficult to Dispatch Source: Town of Hendricks, MN

Solar Electricity 80% growth, 11 GW in 2012 Photvoltaics –Electricity Directly from Sunlight –Low Conversion efficiency –Fairly High Cost Solar Potential: –US uses 100 Quad of Energy each year –38,200 Quad of Solar Energy hits the lower 48 each year BUT ONLY WHEN THE SUN SHINES …

New Solar Ideas: 3-D PhotoVoltaic Cells –New Breakthroughs in Nano-Materials greatly increase the effective surface area of a Solar Cell and its ability to catch reflected light –Theoretically 50%-70% efficient –Very High Cost Solar Concentrators –Simple Idea used in Space – Collect More Sunlight for your Existing Cells - Combine Solar Electric AND Solar Thermal Graphene??

Houston, We Have a Storage Problem: Courtesy of Tom Ferguson Renewables are not “Dispatchable” If we could Store energy when available for use when it’s not….

Energy Storage Technology: We’re not ready yet Source: Haresh Kamath, EPRI PEAC

Geothermal 5% Growth, 3 GW in 2010 Extract Hot Water from the Earth Use the Hot Water (low temp) or Flash to Steam (high temp) 11 GW installed capacity worldwide (2010) Capacity growing at 5% worldwide (5yr Avg) Excellent Idea for Home Use – Ground Source Heat Pumps

Binary-Cycle Plant (Geothermal)

Nuclear …. Is It BACK? 0% growth, 100 GW in 2012 Updated LWR Designs are being permitted March 11, 2011 – Earthquake in Japan, leading to nuclear reactor meltdown Next Generation Nuclear Reactors (Gen IV) –Modular (example: 25 MW Modules), add more modules to make a bigger plant –Fuel Flexible – Uranium, Thorium (More abundant resource) –A Promising Design: Pebble-Bed Modular Reactor Temperature moderated with Helium or Nitrogen Fuel encased in pebbles – ‘safe’, easy to handle

Pebble-Bed Reactor Source: Black and Veatch

Source: EIA Annual Energy Outlook Incremental Transmission Costs Variable Costs, Including Fuel Fixed Costs Capital Costs Levelized Electricity Costs for New Plants, 2015 and 2030

DEMAND SIDE Conservation Through: Market Pricing Efficient Products

Market Pricing Energy Prices becoming De-Regulated New Equipment to Automate Pricing: Smart Meters Smart Appliances

Smart Meters Talks to Electric Company Talks to Consumer About Hourly Prices and Hourly Consumption Tells Appliances what current Price is Shops Around for a Better Rate? Source: elster.com and freefoto.com

Efficient Products Smart Appliances run only when energy is cheapest, talk to each other and to the Electric Utility Passive Solar Thermal Designs and Devices Energy Efficient Home Designs and Ground-Source Heat Pumps

Sustainability More than Conservation More than Smart Energy Use Being Responsible with ALL resources and Preserving Them for the Future “7 th Generation” Concept

Sustainability at UMD umdsustain.wp.d.umn.edu

CONCLUSIONS New Social Pressures and New Technologies are both changing and complicating the way we convert and use energy In a World with 7.1 Billion People (9 Billion by 2030), We MUST become more mindful of How and Why We Use Energy. (

WEB References National Renewable Energy Labs – Electric Power Research Institute – US Dept. of Energy – Energy Information Association –